Canford Cliffs beats Goldikova (right) in the Queen Anne Stakes

  PICTURE: Martin Lynch  

Plenty to think about after great Royal Ascot

WORLD CLASS: an analysis of the international scene according to Racing Post Ratings

AN exceptional week at Royal Ascot saw two movers and two new entries to the world top ten list, although there was nothing to threaten Frankel and Black Caviar for the top spot.

Black Caviar's Aussie sprint form was represented at Ascot by Star Witness, who finished placed in both of the big sprints of the week, but those efforts were only enough to support her peak RPR of 133 rather than suggesting it could go any higher.

Co-leader Frankel, on the other hand, was representing himself at Ascot, but a poorly timed ride in the St James's Palace Stakes saw him run well shy of his peakfigure of 133 from the 2000 Guineas.

There was a healthy shake up on the top list behind the big two and here are some of the highlights:

Canford Cliffs (1^st Queen Anne Stakes, RPR 130)

Richard Hughes had a plan to track Goldikova and beat her for speed and he played it to perfection. A winning RPR of 130 ranks Canford second to Frankel (133) on the mile list for 2011.

Given his 'just enough' style, Richard Hannon's charge may find it tricky to match Sir Henry Cecil's colt on the ratings, but that may not stop him defeating the three-year-old in the Sussex Stakes next month.

Frankel still looks a freak talent and he probably has a slight ability edge over Canford, but after Tom Queally's stinker aboard Frankel in the St James's Palace, Hughes will fancy himself to have everymove covered at Goodwood.

It will certainly be a tricky timing job on Frankel to go so quick that Canford can't catch him, yet not so quick he goes out like a light, as he did last week. One false move by the Guineas winner and Canford will capitalise.

Rewilding (1^st Prince Of Wales's Stakes, RPR 130)

The new kid on the middle-distance scene. Don't yet know where he fits in with Workforce and a race fit So You Think, but this was a solid career-best effort which ranks him as middle-distance leader for the season so far.

He might not have won if Frankie hadn't hit him so many times, or if So You Think had been trained to peak for the race. But he still managed to defeat the rest of the field by a long way at a trip which is shy of his optimum, so he's obviously improved a bit this year and could give another top performance back up at 1m4f.

Can't rule out another big run in the King George, although it would be hard to be confident of him repeating this result in a rematch with So You Think. Apparently needs time between races.

So You Think (2^nd Prince Of Wales's Stakes, RPR 129)

What a baptism to British racing. It was a true end-to-end gallop, he went for home 3f out, opened up a lead, but came up short in the closing stages.

The way he blew after the race, coupled with the visual evidence of thefinal furlong, suggests he was running on empty for the last 50 yards. He also ran fresh and free early, which backs up Aidan O'Brien's assertion that he had him undercooked.

This result doesn't mean he is 'worse than' Rewilding and it doesn't take away from everything he has achieved to date. He was clear of the remainder and Rewilding looks a smart colt in his own right, so this was not a bad run. But, even with the hope of more to come, it has to put a slight dent in expectations for the season. Maybe we're looking at a 132er rather than a 136er.

Perhaps expectations were too high for the New Zealand-bred trying to break into racing's middle-distance heartland?

There are hundreds of collateral lines which show that Europe is the dominant force at turf races beyond 1m2f - including in Australia, where horses like Speed Gifted, All The Good and My Kingdom Of Fife have all won Group 1s having never even raced at that level in Europe.

Despite this defeat, he still looks capable of running to a figure in the 130s and he still looks the southern hemisphere's best chance of gaining an unprecedented championship-level middle-distance success in Europe.

The good thing about this result is that now connections are on a retrieval mission, so we might get to see him in better races against better horses. His champion status is no longer assured - they will have to chase it.

Goldikova (2^nd Queen Anne Stakes, RPR 126)

Freddie Head was understandably annoyed at Olivier Peslier putting up 2lb overweight. On the bare figures, that 2lb would put her within a neck of the winner, but Canford seemed to have her measure and even off her correct weight she would likely have run second.

The one major positive to take from this effort isthat with an RPR of 126 she looks right back to last season's best, so a fourth Breeders' Cup Mile win is well and truly on the cards. Maybe she will gain revenge on Canford on home soil later in the campaign, or maybe he will maintain his advantage right through to Churchill Downs?

Whatever happens in Europe, she will go off favourite for the Mile, since American race fans love her - she has already picked up votes in the NTRA poll for American Horse of the Year without even running there, which is highly unusual.

The poll is only a guide at this stage, but she sits just two points behind Animal Kingdom in the rankings and has the second highest number of first-place votes after Havre De Grace. If she won at Churchill, the award could be set to leave America for the first time, which would also make it three in a row for the supermares on the back of wins for Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.

This great mare has done enough in her career to beremembered for more than just this season and we are well into bonus territory with her now.

Await The Dawn (1^st Hardwicke Stakes, RPR 125)

Matched his peak RPR of 125 from the Huxley, winning by three lengths from dual Listed winner Harris Tweed on Saturday.

Still has a bit to find to win an average Breeders' Cup Classic, although ranks close enough to this year's leading contenders Animal Kingdom (126), Tizway (124) and the sidelined Uncle Mo (124) in what currently looks a very open year. Should find a Group 1 before then.

Frankel (1^st St James's Palace Stakes, RPR 122)

Terrible ride saw his rivals finish way closer than entitled after Tom Queally went for home far too early (at halfway) in a bid for a huge margin success. Luckily for the jockey, the horse was good enough to hang on.

In Queally's defence, going for a ten-lengther was understandable. It's what the public wanted, it's what connections wanted and it would have done a huge favour to the horse's stud value, but he really fluffed this.

The early stages of the race is where Frankel did the damage in the Guineas,running to his stride-length and not to his opposition, which allowed him to build up an unassailable lead, but he didn't have the opportunity to do that last week when tucked in behind horses going round a bend.

A jockey can't simplyforce a wide-margin win out of nothing and, in trying to do so, Queally undoubtedly shortened Frankel's winning margin.

If he'd have held on before making his move, he would have won by daylight. He actually won by three-quarters of a length, posting an RPR of 122 (11lb off his Guineas best), although you have to give him credit for winning at all.

The second bad point about the ride is that for the second time in as many months, Frankel has finished the race on empty, which is hardly going to help if and when he comes up against the older generation.

In the Sussex Stakes next month Queally will get the chance to redeem himself by defeating leading older miler Canford Cliffs. There was enough in last week's run to suggest Frankel hasn't lost any ability since Newmarket, but the jockey must get it right next time, because Richard Hughes and Canford Cliffs will take no prisoners.

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